Now that IO Interactive (IOI) has wrapped up Hitman: World of Assassination, it’s moving on to the next logical step: a James Bond game. But the studio is also moving in a more surprising direction, as it announced today that it’s making an online fantasy RPG. “This idea — that a diverse group of individuals with different skills and strengths can work together and become more than the sum of their parts — is what inspires us,” the studio wrote in a blog post.

Of course, IOI didn’t go into much detail about the project, which it describes as “just the start of our journey into this new world we are making.” However, it did say memories of tabletop fantasy RPGs influenced the decision. “From the Fighting Fantasy books compelling you to choose your path, alone, against wizards, lizards, and thief kings. To the togetherness, camaraderie, agony, and delight found around the tabletop. For some it meant taking the role of a game master: Part storyteller, part AI opponent, part guide, part villain. For everyone around that table it meant creativity, imagination, building a world together, and a shared goal in creating a great game experience.”

The indie studio says the game will be a new IP designed to “entertain players and expand for many years to come.” It says all of its studios, including locations in Copenhagen, Malmö and Barcelona, will work together on the project.

IOI will develop the RPG alongside its upcoming James Bond game, codenamed “Project 007,” which it’s working on with license holders MGM and Eon Productions. It seems a natural fit for the studio, as it could take the beloved core Hitman gameplay, create a new story with new maps, add a James Bond coat of paint and have a game many people would love to play. (It could change its formula more than that, but it won’t need a radical departure.) IOI has said its title would be its own Bond story that won’t use the likenesses of any established Bond actors; the studio even said it could become another spy trilogy. The title doesn’t yet have a release date.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hitman-studio-io-interactive-is-making-a-fantasy-rpg-game-165722089.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Hitman studio IO Interactive is making a fantasy RPG game

Apple released the latest refreshes to its MacBook Pro laptops just last month, but a new deal has brought the 14-inch model down to $1,799 at Amazon and B&H. That’s $150 off this configuration’s typical going rate on Amazon, $200 off Apple’s MSRP and the largest discount we’ve seen to date. B&H’s listing says the deal is only scheduled to last through Tuesday. Note that only the Space Gray model is discounted.

This deal applies to the entry-level 14-inch model, which includes a new M2 Pro chip with a 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. The 14.2-inch Mini-LED display has a resolution of 3,024 x 1,964 and supports refresh rates up to 120Hz for smoother scrolling. There’s a 1080p webcam inside an iPhone-style display notch, plus three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, an HDMI port, a full-sized SD card slot, a MagSafe connector for charging and a headphone jack.

We gave the latest 14-inch MacBook Pro a review score of 92 back in January. Although that review was based on a higher-power configuration than this discounted model, the general benefits are the same here. The new MacBook Pro is essentially just a speed bump, but it remains a fast and sturdily-built notebook for power users. Its display is still superb, its keyboard and trackpad are still comfortable, its speakers are still top-notch and its battery life can still genuinely last beyond a full work day. On the flip side, the whole thing is still expensive (even with this discount) and hardly upgradeable, but that’s a familiar story for Macs. 

The one major upgrade here is the new chip. To be clear, this variant of the M2 Pro isn’t worth the upgrade for most owners of the prior MacBook Pro, and its graphics performance is still clearly behind the M2 Max chip available in the pricier Pro models. Because of the way its NAND chips are configured, this entry-level model’s storage performance is technically slower than the last entry-level 14-inch Pro as well. 

That said, this is still a powerful notebook. Any storage drop-off isn’t likely to be noticeable the vast majority of the time, and the CPU and GPU performance here is still nice jump for most looking to upgrade from an older Intel-based Pro. While the M2 MacBook Air is the better buy for most people in need of a general-purpose laptop, the 14-inch MacBook Pro is a great choice for those willing to pay for more performance, and this deal makes it at least a little more affordable. 

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-2023-macbook-pro-with-m2-pro-is-200-off-right-now-164333083.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Apple’s 2023 MacBook Pro with M2 Pro is 0 off right now

Flipboard is the latest service to embrace Mastodon as Twitter becomes increasingly chaotic under Elon Musk. The news reading app, whose founder was once on Twitter’s board of directors, is now going all in on the Fediverse.

The company announced that it’s integrating Mastodon into its main app, so that users can browse their feeds much the way they can “flip” through their Twitter timelines. Flipboard is also starting up its own Mastodon instance in an effort to encourage broader adoption among its user base.

According to Flipboard CEO Mike McCue, the two updates are the first “very initial steps” of a broader plan to embrace the decentralized social networking protocols that have been popularized by Mastodon over the last year. Instead of relying on the “proprietary social graphs” of services like Twitter and Facebook — both of which have become increasingly hostile to outside developers — Flipboard could instead be centered around ActivityPub, the open source protocol that powers Mastodon and the rest of the decentralized services that make up the “Fediverse.”

“As we embrace ActivityPub at Flipboard, we’ll effectively allow anyone who’s on Mastodon to follow a user on Flipboard, and to follow a Flipboard magazine, and vice versa,” McCue says in an interview. “What ActivityPub enables is a common, open social graph.” This means that services like Flipboard and Mastodon could eventually be interoperable with other platforms that have pledged to adopt ActivityPub, like Tumblr.

The shift is especially notable for Flipboard given its once deep ties to Twitter. McCue served on Twitter’s board of directors between 2010 and 2012, and Twitter once reportedly considered buying the app. But now, McCue says the current state of Twitter “is quite sad for a lot of people who were advocates and participants in the whole Twitter ecosystem.”

And, with Twitter set to end its free API, it’s not clear how much longer Flipboard will be able to maintain any kind of functionality with the service. “It’s total chaos over there,” McCue says, referring to Twitter since Musk took over the company. “The writing on the wall is that I don’t see [Flipboard’s] Twitter integration lasting much longer.”

But McCue describes Mastodon and the Fediverse as a kind of antidote to the Musk-induced chaos. “We need to get out of this world where one person can basically dictate how these communities of people are interacting with each other,” he says.

Of course, there are still questions about whether Mastodon will ever be more than a relatively niche Twitter alternative. The platform has seen explosive growth since last spring when Musk announced his takeover bid for Twitter, but the growth has since leveled off. And the decentralized nature of the platform isn’t necessarily intuitive for newcomers. McCue acknowledges that the Fediverse is still waiting for its “Netscape moment” (he was an executive at the browser company in the late ‘90s at the peak of the Web 1.0 era), but he predicts that other mainstream services may start looking at Mastodon more strategically as well.

“I think you’re going to see, in the coming months, companies like us start to integrate ActivityPub and advocate to publishers and content creators that they should build a presence in the Fediverse,” he predicts. “Once that starts to reach critical mass … then I think you’re gonna get that Netscape moment.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/flipboard-is-leaning-into-mastodon-and-away-from-twitter-160036103.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Flipboard is leaning into Mastodon — and away from Twitter

Realme, a sister brand of Oppo, is finally bringing its 240W SuperVOOC fast charging tech to the international market by way of a familiar-looking device. Freshly announced at MWC, the Realme GT3 is identical to the Chinese GT Neo5 model, meaning it benefits from the same rapid charging speeds: a quick 80-second connection with the custom 12A cable will replenish the 4,600mAh battery to 20 percent, and a 9.5-minute session will get it fully charged.

To cope with the extra heat from the higher charging power, the GT3’s battery is covered with a massive vapor chamber liquid cooling system, and this is complemented with various safety sensors plus a fireproof design. The battery will apparently maintain at least 80-percent health after 1,600 charging cycles (at 240W) — doubling that of the industry standard.

Realme threw in a small C-shaped RGB lighting ring — dubbed “Pulse Interface System” — sandwiched between an NFC ring and a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 icon on the back (yep, no love for the newer Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 here). These are all housed inside a translucent window next to the camera module, with the customizable light ring indicating the battery level, incoming calls, notifications and camera countdown. See? RGB isn’t just for showing off.

As with the GT Neo5, the GT3 packs a 50-megapixel main camera (featuring a Sony IMX890 sensor and optical stabilization), an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 2-megapixel macro camera. Flip to the other side, you’ll find a 6.74-inch 2,772 x 1,240 AMOLED screen with a 144Hz refresh rate, an under-display fingerprint reader and a 16-megapixel punch-hole selfie camera. The infrared remote blaster at the top is here to stay, and likewise with the Dolby Atmos stereo speakers.

The Realme GT3’s charging speed may not match Xiaomi’s five-minute record claim from earlier today, but at least it is already available in the market. Starting at $649, this Android 13 device comes in four flavors, with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage being the base model, and maxing out with 16GB RAM plus 1TB of storage for the special variant. You’ll be able to pick one up across Europe and Asia soon.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/realme-gt3-240w-pricing-availability-mwc-2023-160035911.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Realme’s GT3 phone with 240W fast charging is getting a global release

Federal law enforcement is once again dealing with a cybersecurity breach. The US Marshals Service (USMS) reports that it suffered a serious ransomware attack on February 17th. The perpetrators compromised sensitive data on a stand-alone system, including personally identifiable info for some USMS employees, third parties and the targets of investigations.

We’ve asked the USMS for comment. The agency tells CNBC that it disconnected the affected system from the network after discovering the attack, and that the Justice Department has launched an investigation. Senior officials briefed on the ransomware determined it was a “major” event on February 22nd.

The service hasn’t identified potential culprits or named any impacted divisions or programs. A CNBC source claims the ransomware didn’t touch the Witness Security Program. The USMS has reportedly created a workaround to maintain its activities, including hunting fugitives.

Word of the breach comes just over a week after the FBI said it “contained” a security incident on its network. Ransomware has also been problematic for various levels of government and public institutions in the past several months. The city of Oakland went so far as to declare a state of emergency in February following an incursion, while Los Angeles’ Unified School District also reeled from a digital heist last fall.

The US government has escalated its fight against ransomware in the past two years. It brought 30 countries together to address ransomware in 2021, and recently succeeded in disrupting a major ransomware group that stole hundreds of millions of dollars from victims. However, the USMS breach suggests that the battle is far from over.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-marshals-service-ransomware-attack-155923238.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – US Marshals Service says it’s the victim of a ‘major’ ransomware attack